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Director Lexi Alexander Explains Why She Won't Helm 'Wonder Woman'

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"So now, we finally get 'Wonder Woman' with a female director; imagine if it fails"

Since news broke that Warner Bros. was looking for a female director for its 2017 Wonder Woman movie, Lexi Alexander’s name has been mentioned a lot — understandably, considering that she already has experience with comic book movies following 2008’s Punisher: War Zone. But, as she explained in a recent interview, bringing DC’s Amazon princess to the big screen isn’t something she’s interested in.

“Imagine the weight on my shoulders,” she told Fast Company. “How many male superhero movies fail? So now, we finally get Wonder Woman with a female director; imagine if it fails. And you have no control over marketing, over budget. So without any control, you carry the f—ing weight of gender equality for both characters and women directors. No way.”

Wonder Woman will arrive with significant expectations. Coming a year before Marvel’s first solo-female-led movie (Captain Marvel, announced last month), it will be the first time since 2005’s Elektra that a female character has anchored a superhero property.

In a subsequent interview with Forbes, Alexander clarified that, despite rumors, she hadn’t been approached by Warner Bros., in part because she believed that the studio has already offered the movie to another director. “If she says yes, everybody will be very happy, including me,” she said, although she added, “I don’t see at this point why anyone would say yes. There is huge pressure…. If [a female director] does fail, then all of a sudden it’s ‘All women suck at directing.’”